Automobile bumper



K. L. HARRIS ET AL May 19, 1925.

wwouoans BUMPER FiledOct. v. 1924 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 INYENTORS WITN ESSES gfinuk ATTO RN EY May 19, 1925. 1,538,804

K. L, HARRIS ET AL AUTOMOBILE BUMPER 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. '7. 1924 '3 it. 5.1 a

an fflLHarniS i CWHanniS i mvENToRs VIII/[III],

WITNESSES I ATTORNE? Patented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KENNETH LESTER HARRIS AND CHARLES WESTERMAN HARRIS, OF NEW BRIGHTON,

PENNSYLVANIA. I

AUTOMOBILE BUMPER.

Application filed October 7, 1924. Serial no. 742,138.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, KENNETH L. HA RIS and GHARnEs W. HARRIS, citizens of the United States, residing at New Brighton, in

the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automobile Bumpers, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to automobile 'bumpers, and has for an object the provision of a flexible metallic covering for j the bumper bar or bolster to protect the same, and which may be rotated thereon to cause damaged parts of the covering to be concealed from view at the front of the automobile. p

A furtherobject of the invention is to provide novel means for securing the bumper to an automobile so as to absorb the'shock v of impacts thereagainst and thus relieve the automobile thereof.

With these and other objects in view, as will become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists of the details l of construction, combination of elements and arrangements of parts hereinafter to be described and claimed.

A full and complete understanding of the inventionmay be obtained from a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, it being understood that while the drawing shows a practical form of the invention, the latter is not to be confined to strict conformity with the showing thereof, but ma be. changed or modified, so long as suc changes and modifications mark no ma terial departure from the salient features of the invention, as specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing, in which similar refer ence characters refer to similar parts throughout the several figures Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a bumper embodying this invention as applied to the rear of an automobile;

Figure 2 is a similar view showing a bum er as applied to the front of an automdbile;

Figure 3 is an enlarged plan view 1llustrating the construction for attaching the bumper directly to the ends of the frame;

Figure at is an enlarged detail view, partly in section, of the preferred form of bumper support as applied to the frame;

-Figure 5 is an enlarged horizontal sectional View of a portion of the bumper structure and support;

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail, in section, fit? of a portion of one of the bumper rods;

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 77 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view partly in section to illustrate a modified form of connection between the cap and bumper bar;

Figure 9 is a detail perspective view of the combined plunger and supporting member;

Figure 10 is a detail view partly in side to elevation and partly in section of the bumper support as shown in Figure 3; and

Figure 11 i a sectional view of the metallic strip forming the flexible casing.

In the drawing 1 indicates the frame of an automobile2, upon the front and rear ends of which are mounted bumpers 3 to absorb the shock of impacts thereagainst, and thereby relieve the automobile.

It is desirable that the bumpers 3, in addition to performing their primary function of protecting the automobile, be maintained in such condition that they add to the attractive appearance of the car. Priorto this invention, the bumpers have been plated at and highly polished and are attractive onl until such time as the plating and polis are damaged or worn, when the entire bumper must be replated to restore its attractive appearance.

In accordance with this invention, each bumper comprises a plurality of rods 4, each rod being encased in a flexible removable and rotatable sleeve or casing 5, which may be suitably plated and polished. The rods themselves may therefore be constructed of cheap material with no plating.

It is preferable that the casing 5 be of flexible tubing commonly known as Green field, and widely used as a conduit for 1'. electrical wires, and comprising a metallic strip, substantially S-shaped in cross section which is spirally wound with the sides of the strip engaging in the grooves of the adjacent portions thereof (Fig. 11), but it is obvious that any other flexible tubing would serve as well, and if the rods 4 were straight instead of curved as shown, a plain or corru.--

gated rigid. tube might be used as a casing for the rod.

The ends of the casing extend to points adjacent the ends of the rod 4, and the casing is held in position by caps 6, which may fit over the ends of the rod and casing and be secured by pins 7 passing through the rod, as best shown in Figure 6, or the caps may have threaded connection with the rod and abut the ends of the casing, as shown in Figure 8.

It will be observed that by this construction should the casing 5 become damaged by its engagement with an object, or become worn by use, it is only necessary to rotate the same on the rod t so as to move the damaged portion to a position invisible from the front of the vehicle Should a portion of the casing be seriously affected, that portion may be cut out and a new portion quickly inserted on the rod in its place with less inconvenience and at a cost considerably less than that required to replate a whole bumper bar.

If auxiliary bumper rods 8 are to be employed above and below the center rod 4, as shown in Figures 1, 3, 5 and 8, or it a pair of oppositely curved rods 9 are to be used in lieu oi the main rod at, as shown in Figure 2, each of the rods is provided with a flexible casing 5 and caps 6 as above described.

The complete bumper structure 3 is supported by a pair of rods 10, each of which had a holder 11 secured to its front end and formed with. sleeves 12 for loosely receiving the respective casings which contain the rods, so as to permit circumferential or longitudinal movement thereof.

The rods pass through and have hearing in the centrally located alined apertures 13 in the ends i l and 15 the cylinders 16. There is provided on each of the rods 10, intermediate it" ends, an. integral dislrl'i, on each side or 'llCll is disposed a gasket 18 it leather, or other suitable material, which engages the in" rior wall. of the cylinder and constitutes a iston head.

havin' r respective ends in engage ment with end 15 of the cylinder 16 and one of the rets l8 yieldingly holds the rod in its extended position, which is limited by a shorter spring 26 between the other gasket 18 and the end of the cylinder. The spring 19 and the air conta'ned in the cylinder tog "her serve to absorb the shock pers 3 strnre an ob sect, and the res to break tne forceof the when the bi o spring 20 return oi 1 Good res Without us,

Each cylii held in an angled welded Expansion spring cylinder, the other end being secured to the chassis or frame 1 by rivets or bolts 23, as best shown in Figure 4 of the drawing and further supported by the Z-shaped brace 24, having one of its parallel arms bolted to the chassis, as at 25, and its other arm secured to both the bracket 22 and cylinder 16 by the machine screw 26.

In the rear bumper, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 10 of the drawing, the inner end of the cylinder 16-is closed and provided with spaced diverging arms 27, which are held in position on the frame by the U-bolt 29 and the plate 30, the U-bolt 29 engaging the raised boss heads 31 provided on the arms27 to prevent the U-bolt from sliding on the frame 1 due to the taper thereof.

What is claimed is 1. An automobile bumper comprising a rod, a removable and rotatable metallic casing through which the rod extends, and means for retaining the casing on the rod.

2. An automobile bumper comprising a rod, a removable, flexible metallic casing through which the rod extends, said casing being rotatable on the rod, and means for retaining the casing against movement longitudinally of the rod.

3. An automobile bumper comprising a rod, a removable, flexible casing through which the rod extends, said casing being formed of a spirally wound metallic strip, and means for retaining the casing on the rod.

4. An automobile bumper comprising a rod, a flexible metallic casing through which the rod extends, said casing being ro-- tatable on the rod, means for removably retaining the casing thereon, and means for supporting the rod in operative position on an automobile.

An automobile bumper comprising a plurality of spaced rods, flexible metallic sleeves rotatably and removably mounted thereon, and means for supporting said rods in superimposed relation in operative position on an automobile.

6. In an automobile bumper, a curved red, a flexible metallic sleeve through which the rod extends, said sleeve being rotatable upon the rod, and caps removably mounted on. the ends of said rod and overlying the ends said sleeve and removably retaining the latter on the rod.

7. An automobile bumper comprising a plurality of bumper rods, casings surrounding the respective rods and rotatable thereon, a pair of holders each having a plurality of superposed sleeves removabl supporting the respecti ends of said bumper rods, supporting rods secured to the respective holders and extending rearwardly therefrom, and means for supporting said rearwardl extending rods so to permit them to yield rearwardly',

biprocating movement, holders secured to 'the outer extremities of said rods and each having a plurality of sleeves, transverse bumper elements having their ends mounted in the respective sleeves, each of said elements comprising a curved rod, a flexible metallic sleeve through which the rod extends, said sleeve being rotatable upon the rod, and caps removably mounted on the ends of said curved rod and removably retaining the sleeve upon the rod.

In testimony, that we claim the foregoing as our own, 'we have hereto affixed our signatures.

KENNETH LESTER HARRIS. C LES WESTERMAN HARRIS. 

